Good morning Binder Lover Vadey fan (long time no see Thanks for your great comments you two And for the continued interest despite the long delay between the posts (ooooops ) I'm going to make it up to you right now ;P

THanks again for your continued interest, both of you! ENtertaining you means a lot to us ;P

Ready for more (lots more?)

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post

(...)

The young Jedi looked up at that and glared defiantly at his tormentor. "Why not? You've got more than enough gua---"

His father didn't seem to be open to his whining attitude this time. He loomed slightly closer to him, implicitly warning him to be silent. "You will see her later, but first, you and I need to talk."

"And this is exactly why we 'will' talk, young one," Vader replied, his voice laced with an unspoken threat that he had better cooperate or else... "Why do you want to see her?" the Dark Lord inquired once the youth had nodded in reluctance.

For a long moment, both Father and Son gazed at each other, as if searching each other's soul for motivations and deceit, then Luke dropped his gaze and sighed heavily.

"You won't believe me," he finally commented, dejected. Behind his temples, his headache was still pounding, having deceived it with the illusion that it was going away. It wasn't. Tired, he ran his hands through his hair. Darn, he felt so... odd, but what drug could cause this, he wondered anew.

When Luke ran his hands through his hair, Vader understood that the boy was still suffering from the side effects of a nine-month long sleep in a statis booth.

He waited for the obvious question about his predicament to come; it never did.

Shrugging to himself, he decided to keep the conversation going, resuming it where his son had left off with his comment about his not believing him. "I think that I've already confirmed everything that you could tell me," he began seriously, "and, to my disagreement, I can only believe 'it', Luke, but what I want to know," he continued more explicitly, "is why you fell for her."

To his surprise, the boy remained silent, as if lost in thought.

Not feeling up to any sulking or pouting from the boy's part, he probed him further with a more explicit, more judgmental question. "Were you that desperate? Are you so unhappy on your own that you are now down to falling for any woman who----"

As he had suspected, the personal insults roused his son's defiant attitudes. "Hey," he glared at him, "I did not fall for just 'any' woman, and if you've uncovered everything," he added, pointing a threatening finger at him, "then she told you that we are both till confused about 'why'." The two men held gazes for a few seconds, then the youth subsided and sighed. "The only think that I know for sure," he finally admitted, "is that it 'is'. I love her."

"And you betrayed me to stay with her," the dark lord completed, feeling his own temper slip from his tight control as he heard his son's admission. No matter for how long he had known what Luke's answer would be, it still affected him to think that his own son had gone as far as to turn his back to him... again.

Luke was quicker on the reply this time. "I did not betray you," he objected strongly.

"You blocked yourself from me," he reminded him resentfully as the memories of those long months of denied access came back to him.

"And you abandoned me," the youth countered resentfully, catching him unprepared with that argument.

Abandoned? Not even Jade had mentioned that one to him.

"You did not even come after me," the young Jedi continued to explain. "Instead, you sent Han, and he found me, but---"

Oh, that, he understood. "I did not abandon you," Vader interrupted him coldly. He could take much from the boy, but the thought of abandoning him...

The dark lord remained silent. Luke thought that it was a good sign; the other was considering his words. He pressed forward.

"Those were not the actions of a father," he rebuked him, locking his defiant, wounded gaze on Vader's hidden one. "And now, how can I know that I can trust you?" he asked, his voice suddenly breaking up when he realized just what he was asking to his father, yet he knew that he did not have any other choice but to ask him. "How do I know that you're not using me in some strange, unknown way and that now that you have Leia and Han, and even the Rebellion, that I'm expan---

His voice suddenly died out on him, as if strangled in his throat; swallowing in fright, he suddenly remembered to whom he had been speaking.

His father, the dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader...

For a second or two, Vader concentrated solely on calming down and recovering his cooler attitude.

The boy's questions had hit him right where it hurt, but not in the way that Luke thought he had; it was definitely time to set things straight between them, once and for all.

"Enough," he finally warned him, careful to not make neither a physical nor another mental move toward the boy. He did 'not' want to hurt him again. "I can take much from you, Luke, but enough is enough," he continued seriously. "Now, you will listen to me and stop listening to yourself. About the past," he began down the list that his son had just 'enumerated' to him, "I told you that I am a monster. I never pretended to be anything else before or after I made a truce with you. In the past, I knew that you would refuse joining me, so back when I still wanted to make that happen, I thought that the drug would be the least damaging way to reach my goal. However, I could not show any of my feelings for you or else the Emperor would have killed you. Thus, the DNA-customized, pain-enhancing drug was the only way for me to achieve both. The same happened on Bespin. I wanted to save you as much pain as I could, but I knew that the Emperor was watching. I could not show any care either. As for now," he continued, finally releasing his son's throat from his control when he understood that the stricken youth would not interrupt him, "'I' did not seek you out before our truce. I was content to live my empty, cold life until you and Leia came in. You both taught me the value of care, and even love between yourselves, but I sometimes wonder if you really love me as much as you want to believe it."

It was Luke's turn to be stumped. "What do you mean, if I mean it?" he asked him, incredulous. "Of course, I---"

"Then why do you keep bringing up the past, Son?" he asked him pointedly. "The past is the past; we have both dealt with it yet you keep reopening that door again and again when you always seem to have closed it for good. What kind of love is this when you keep reawakening our old wounds all the time?"

To his satisfaction, his son remained silent, lowering his eyes to ponder his words more cautiously.

"I don't want to hear about those, Luke," he continued half seriously, half warningly, "and I don't want to ever see you come to conclusions about those. You know everything that there is to know about the past, about my motivations as well as about how I react nowadays. If you do love me," he concluded meaningfully, "you will understand this once and for all and you too will close the door of the past."

Luke raised uncertain eyes toward his father's cool, still mildly distraught presence. He wanted to be able to close the doors of the past, he really wanted to, and in a way, he even had since he could see his father as 'more' than just the being who had hurt him. However, his memories of his different torments were not 'that' easy to dismiss either. "I understand, Father," he began quietly. "I will not mention the past challenges ever again, but," he added when he felt that the other wanted to comment his decision, "you must also understand something about me," he warned him.

Vader subsided, let him continue.

"I cannot predict when my sensory memories of those events will overcome me again. Throughout the past two years, you've seen for yourself that they rarely do, and I don't live by them, but sometimes, I know that they will come back, like at the moment. I just can't help it. I will be careful to deal with them on my own, it's 'my' past, but you can't ask me to consider them over and done with. Part of those will never be over for me, I think, but I will not let them affect our relationship," he reassured his father, who was obviously less pleased by his latest statement.

"Very well, I will respect your choice," his father finally answered after a moment of silence. "In fact, he added more thoughtfully, "I 'want' you to make your own choices."

"Huh?" Luke frowned, confused once again by this new turn in their conversation.

"You listen too much to me, and you trust me too easily," he explained in mild scolding. "You need to fly on your own and to trust yourself as a Jedi, and as a grown man. I am your father," the dark lord added, as if reading his mind and the upcoming argument that was forming itself in it, "but I am not your guide, and I am 'not' your teacher nor your role-model."

The last example stung Luke hard.

Role-model. His father had pegged him right on the nail this time. He 'had' been looking at him in search of a model to follow.

In a way, he had even sometimes felt as if he had found it, although he had been careful to not follow in all his footsteps either. Still, he had refrained from making many decision by leaning on the knowledge that his father's decision was the right one, the 'wise' one.

"You need to grow up, Luke," his father summarized his thoughts for him.

The young Jedi could only nod in agreement; he 'had' been keeping himself from taking his complete independence with his lack of self-confidence in regards to the Jedi order and his own, personal life.

"Now," Vader began more gently yet seriously, "why did you fall for Jade, of all women?"

Feeling that his son would cooperate now, Vader patiently waited for his answer, giving him time to digest their latest conversation before resuming their Jade topic.

"It just happened," the youth shrugged, then hesitantly, tiredly looked up from his mattress. "I don't know how else to explain it," he admitted truthfully. "At first, every single time that I gazed in her eyes, I felt her pain, her unhappiness, then she snatched me away from coma...," he continued more slowly, "ordered me to stay alive until she could send medics down to my cell...," he hesitated, then shrugged again, "and it just began."

"Without any peculiar action from her, or her allies', part?"

"No," the youth shook his head slowly. "I didn't see her much during those first days, nor anybody else, after that. I only saw her once, and she told me that she did not want to hurt me again, then I didn't see anybody else before Han's group came in."

"Why did you desert us on that day?" he asked him quietly, beginning to understand what his son meant about unexplainable even to him.

It 'was' a truly mysterious accident, especially considering that it had gone both ways, overcoming even Jade's Dark Side with its Light and Love.

"I couldn't imagine living without her," Luke admitted, avoiding his gaze as if aware that he was almost betraying him with those words. "I saved her life, then I went with he

Thanks for the great comments and up! I'm really glad you're enjoying our little story I've tried to rouse Tatiana last week-end, still no word from her... don't hesitate to contact her in private to beg for more; perhaps together we'll manage to get more ASAP

Wish it were an up, but except for three pages written by hand during the Holidays, nothing is ready yet for an up... Blame DRL for that; it forced me to go into an asteroid field of overtime since the beginning of the month

I should be on the other side of it now, so there is hope again... I hope

Don't worry about Veers and Piett, they are not forgotten, and they will have more tricks up their bags to cause Vader a headache or two

Mara will be more behaved now, though, new motherhood oblige ;P

Thanks for your continued interest and patience, my friend! I promise that we're working on this as fast as we can... Send us reinforcements against DRL if you can ; we accept everything at the moment

Yet again, I wish that I could announce an up, but sadly, we're not there yet. I managed to write an extra page of the story last week, but this week-end, I don't think there will be much progress. My parents are coming over, and since Tatiana asked me to write this part completely and that she'd add her corrections after, the speed of writing depends on my progress... I'll do my best to write at least another page next week-end... I simply don't have much time to devote to this writing at the moment... DRL overtime is swamping you like you wouldn't believe... Not to mention Tatiana's predicament...

Thanks for your interest and patience, more will be here sooner or later, I give you my word on 'that'.

I hate making you wait about as much as I hate not having time to write, so you can bet that I don't forget that you're here, waiting for the next part of the fun

Whoa, some things happened here that I didn't know about Thanks for the feedback, Jediflyswatter, and thanks for the ups, Pat I hope that the waiting wasn't too long for you, I just noticed that it's really been a while since we could last announce a new post here

But, yes...

Just before turning my computer off for the day, I thought I should tell you that I just sent the edition of part 18 of lust for Revenge to Tatiana She was at the hospital for the past month, but now she?s back, and we?ve both renewed our vow to deliver the rest of that story ASAP

So, just thought you?d like to know that your patience should soon pay off Thank you for still being there despite our long delays; we both promise to do everything we can to keep them at a minimum despite DRL?s interference

Now, cross your fingers that Tatiana will soon get back to me so that part 18 can soon be added on this board

Well, yes, here it is, at last! Part 18 came back from Tatiana's check, so without further ado, here it comes your way!

We cross our fingers that you'll like it once again!

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post

Part 18: Luke, Jade, and family

"Curse you, Vader----ah!"

As a new contraction hit her, the furious red head screamed her frustration as angrily as she could.

Eight months!!!!

It had been eight months since he had captured her; eight months since they had all discovered that she was pregnant with Luke's child, yet she hadn't seen her lover even once since then.

Not even when her trial had begun.

At that time, she had really expected to at least see him in the witness booth, but it hadn't been meant to be. Later, Solo, her assigned guard, had informed her that Vader kept Luke in statis as well as out of even 'his' reach.

Thus, the trial had proceeded despite the Jedi's missing testimony.

The baby had also grown in spite of both her father's absence and the fact that her mother was held in a comfortable but Force-blocked cell aboard Vader's ship.

And now, the baby girl was ready to come to the world.

'No,' Mara begged her silently while she caught her breath. 'Not without Luke. We can't make it that easy for Vader to separate us. Wait for Daddy, please!' she asked her soon-to-be-born daughter. "Just wait for Daddy to be here."

Vader simply 'had' to release him today; he couldn't possibly deprive him of that very special moment. If he really cared about his son like he claimed to, then he would allow Luke to be present for his daughter's birth.

Then, and only then, with the child in her father's safe embrace, Mara would completely surrender and accept her upcoming sentence to death.

If Vader were to try and steal the baby from her or Luke, though, no amount of security would----

"Ah! No!" she begged anew when a new contraction tormented her. She locked her eyes on the female Calamari healer that assisted Dr. Forester. "Not without Luke, please!"

When the other silently shook her head in answer, Mara turned her head away and sobbed. "Not without Luke..."

If only she had been a better person when she had met him, she would not be in this predicament; she wouldn't be about to give birth alone to their daughter.

She wouldn't be in a less than dignified position with nothing but strangers around her.

No, she pleaded anew, it couldn't happen like this. She herself deserved the pain, but her dear lover didn't, nor did their daughter.

Indeed, these two special beings deserved to be together from the very beginning of the baby's existence in the outside world. Giving this new life to both Luke and the baby would be but a small way to make up for what she had done to too many people, but, as far as she was concerned, it would be the most meaningful way to do so.

Her dear farmboy would have a family of his own, and the product of their love would never find a better father in this life.

"Ah!" she groaned again, and then gritted her teeth against the rest of the wave of pain. No, she couldn't---wouldn't allow the expected events to occur until she said so----"Gah!"

TBC soon

Had fun? We sure hope so Please let us know if you did!
Love
Mireille and Tatiana!

Pleasure to meet you, Jerjerrod, and it's a pleasure to be of service to you (entertainment-wise I mean About the brilliance of the story, I have to bow my head to Tatiana for this It wouldn't be the same story at all if not for her unique Vader Glad that you're enjoying our common output so much It really means a lot to us

thanks again, both of you Hmmm, how to thank you better... Oh, I know ;P

How about a new post

Here we go

The corridor that led to the medical area of the cell bay was gray and dull. No windows, no decorations, only bright lines on the floor - red, white, blue, and green. They followed the green one, Vader walking slowly to accommodate Luke while the younger man raged over his weakness. He wanted to run to Mara, but was unable to move quicker than footpace. He was still recovering from his eight-month forced sleep.

In the corridor, guards stood at attention as their Emperor and his son walked past them.

Not that Luke either minded or even noticed the special attention. Except for walking beside the black silhouette of his father, his mind couldn't process anything.

Or so it seemed.

Eight months... eight months..., it repeated over and over again.

He'd lost eight months of his life... almost a whole year...

The rest of Mara's pregnancy... probably her trial, too---- Had she been sentenced already? He worried anew. Had his father said anything about that? He couldn't remember.

The only thing that was clear in his mind was his eight missing months of suspended life.

He suddenly whirled toward the black-clad giant, meaning to accuse him of stealing those months from his life. As his infuriated glare rested on him, though, he realized that he loathed him too much to even address him in any way.

When the other turned his head to gaze at him, Luke swiftly averted his eyes; he focused his attention on their destination.

The green line turned and disappeared under a large door that was flanked by two red robed imperial guards. They didn't react at all when he and his father triggered the door open. They stepped inside the room

"...No, I'm busy. Ergen, which part of 'busy and unavailable' don't you understand? No, you can't. I don't care."

A person in a highly formal black uniform was pacing in the small antechamber, comlink in hand. The voice was Han's, but the clothes and mannerisms weren't.

Luke stopped and stared.

"...I'm out, and don't you dare call me again. Solo out."

Han-who-were-not-Han switched off his comlink, sighing angrily. He then turned, and looked at him. His face relaxed; something of the old Han showed through as he smiled a little.

"Kid..."

Suddenly, Luke was in a crushing bones embrace that had nothing to envy to Chewbacca's.

Uncertain as to which side Han was on, though, his or Vader?s, Luke froze somewhat in the other?s man embrace. Had his friend been overcome by Vader while he had been alone with him? And if not, then why hadn?t he awakened him when Vader hadn?t? "Han...,? he finally gasped when Solo strengthened his hold around him. ?I need to breathe.?

Han instantly let go of him, yet left his hands on his shoulders. "Sorry, Kid" he said happily. ?I?m just glad---?

Before Luke could interrupt him with the semi question/semi accusation that was burning his lips, the small, well guarded door on their right opened. Dr. Forester, dressed in a green surgeon blouse, came out of it.

Luke?s heart jumped at that: his ears had instantly picked up on a familiar voice. Mara! She was in the adjoining room! He could also hear that she was furious and in pain.

"If you can't use the Force either, then get out!---ah! You're useless here! You hear that, Vader?" she vehemently shouted; she was obviously aware of the other?s arrival, but not of his...

?Mara!? he called in the direction of the opened door even as he rushed toward it.